Chávez goes shopping in Moscow – for arms

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, the purveyor of a “socialist revolution” that certainly has its supporters, also has his detractors, not only at home but also throughout the broader Latin-American region. For the Bush administration, Chávez, who has positioned himself as the heir of the revolutionary mantle of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, is a perennial thorn in the side.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez at an OPEC meeting in Caracas earlier this month

Yesterday, the Venezuelan leader, who won a resounding re-election victory last December, began a week-long trip to Russia, Belarus and Iran. During his travels, he is expected to discuss the possible purchase from his Russian and Belarusan contacts of such big-ticket, defense-system items as anti-aircraft weapons and submarines. Russia’s Kommersant reported that the Venezuelan pol’s shopping spree could include a deal for five to nine submarines, to be exact, totaling as much as $2 billion. Chávez has the pocket money; back in Venezuela, the state-controlled oil industry is booming. (EFE and AFP in La Nación, Costa Rica)

Agence France Presse reports that Chávez arrived in Moscow with “a troupe of Venezuelan dancers and singers” and “a large delegation of uniformed military officers” in tow. Sharing some general pensées with the press upon the start of his visit, Chávez observed that the United States is, as he sees it, “imposing tyranny” beyond its borders and noted that a “revolution” against American global power, in which Russia is a significant player, is taking place today. Referring to Team Bush, the Venezuelan president said: “They don’t want Russia to keep rising[,] but Russia has risen again as a center of power and we, the people of the world, need Russia to become stronger every day….History is moving and it’s moving at a gallop….” Notes AFP: “Underlining his country’s defense ties with Russia, Chávez warned Washington not to consider the use of force against Venezuela, saying: ‘We are ready to die defending the sacred sovereignty of our country.'” (AFP, via France 24)

Last Sunday in Caracas, Chavez held a rifle while attending a ceremony marking the 186th anniversary of Venezuela’s army. Are foreign-made submarines and anti-aircraft weapons now on the president’s shopping list?

Reuters reports that Jerrold M. Post, a researcher who “profiled foreign leaders in a 21-year career at the…Central Intelligence Agency and now is the director of the Political Psychology Program at George Washington University,” has completed a study for the U.S. Air Force in which he observes that “[i]nsecurity, ‘malignant narcissism’ and the need for adulation are driving… Chávez’s confrontation with the United States….” Looking ahead, Post suggests that “these personality traits are likely to compel Chávez to declare himself Venezuela’s president-for-life…” (After all, Chávez has hinted “that he intends to stay in power until 2021 – a decade beyond his present term.”) Notes Jerrold Post: “He has been acting increasingly messianic and so he is likely to either get the constitution rewritten to allow for additional terms or eventually declare himself president-for-life.”

Meanwhile, Le Monde notes that, in Venezuela, with many of Chávez’s relatives occupying positions of power in the national government and in the government of his native state of Barinas, the soil is fertile for corruption. If the populist president is ever caught in a foul-smelling corruption scandal, the French daily’s news report suggests, that kind of development could be bad news for the crusading image of his “revolution.”